KNVB assesses facilities for World Cup

Secretary-General Gijs de Jong: 'We're feeling positive as we return to the Netherlands' - Foto: KNVB Media

Friday, a team from the Royal Netherlands Football Association (KNVB), led by Secretary-General Gijs de Jong, returned from a crucial working visit to Qatar.

In the host country of the 2022 World Cup, the KNVB has approved the Regis Hotel in the capital Doha as the team hotel for the Dutch national team. Two excellently rated fields at the local university, a few minutes' drive away from the hotel, have been designated as training venues.

Positive feeling

The Dutch national team now has the essentials in place for a fantastic stay in Qatar

'We're feeling positive as we return to the Netherlands,' said Gijs de Jong, who has been to Qatar several times now. 'Although we still need to sign the hotel documents, we're looking forward to the tournament from a sporting perspective. The Dutch national team now has the essentials in place for a fantastic stay in Qatar, well in advance of the event. All our conditions will be met during our stay, both in terms of top-class sport and based on our requirement that our hotel and training accommodation needs to be 'clean' in terms of the working and living conditions of the migrant workers there.'

The KNVB delegation included team manager Fernando Arrabal, team doctor Edwin Goedhart, strength and conditioning coach René Wormhoudt, media representative Monique Kessels and security officer Eugène Lebon. National head coach Louis van Gaal was not present, as he will travel to Qatar at the end of March for the World Cup draw on 1 April. The tournament takes place this year between 21 November and 18 December.

Focus on Football

'When we visited Qatar, the focus was obviously on football as we are a football association,' De Jong said. 'We were there to assess and make decisions about the facilities for our players, their staff, our fans, our partners and our employees. The enabling conditions must be optimal; with top priority given to the team's hotel and training accommodation, guest house, training facilities, catering and logistics. The Supreme Committee have been conducting audits over a period of time, and this has helped the hotel to make improvements and bring about the impressive results which the hotel shared.

'We also paid an advance visit because we are socially conscious. Both we and our supporters want to be socially conscious. That is why Director Tuñón of the UN-affiliated International Labour Organisation (ILO) also attended our recent meetings. We have checked everything against the legal requirements and extensive questionnaires have been completed. The minimum wage is guaranteed and is higher than in neighbouring countries. There are also electronic checks that assess whether payments have been made correctly. The ILO also indicated that the process the Dutch Football association is taking is a good practice that we encourage others to follow.'

Careful selection

The KNVB carefully selects the parties it works with. A number of requirements must be met relating to a safe working environment, fair and equal treatment, complaints protocol and compliance with financial obligations. 

The process of selecting our local partners is therefore as rigorous as possible

'We therefore started discussions much sooner, involving the Dutch embassy, the local Qatari organising committee, the ILO, Amnesty International and the international trade unions in order to explore how we can optimally fulfil our role in this process. As a result, we have drawn up a comprehensive checklist that we present to companies. The process of selecting our local partners is therefore as rigorous as possible.'

The KNVB endeavours to control these aspects by maintaining a dialogue with local partners, staff, trade unions and embassy officials. The association does this both remotely and when our people are on the ground.

The question sometimes arises as to whether football in the Netherlands dares to think ahead to the World Cup in Qatar. For Gijs de Jong, there's no doubt in his mind: 'Yes, of course, as we think ahead to every tournament, whatever the makeup of our team. We are passionate about our sport and it marries well with socially conscious participation. We have a generation of great football players that is going to compete at the highest level. We're really looking forward to that.'